Why does the Democratic Party leadership refuse to build the wall they know will discourage illegal penetration of our country? Are they indifferent to the tragic reality of human trafficking? The U.S. State Department estimates that 14,500 to 17,500, or in some cases as many as 19,000, foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year.

By July 2018, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program disclosed, “Sex trafficking in and out of the United States has historically been big business. The trafficking of persons across the U.S. border for prostitution is estimated to be the third most significant source of revenue for organized crime syndicates, following the sale of drugs and firearms. All of this profit potential has proven to be a powerful motivator for both organized crime and small independent organizations alike to engage in the sex trafficking of persons.”

“The U.S. Department of State (2005) estimated that 70 percent of all sex trafficked persons are trafficked from Mexico to the U.S., 50 percent of which are minors who are trafficked for prostitution.”

Statistics such as these justify a wall on our southern border! “Boots on the ground” reporter Alisa Jordheim, author of an early book on the sex traffic in minors, “Made in the USA,” reports that “the corridor for trafficked child victims flows south to north.” Border security manifestly stems the sexual and non-sexual trafficking of women and children.

Why, then, are the Democrats so adamantly against border security? And why did mainstream press hide the Jan. 9, 2019, news when President Trump signed into law the Frederick Douglass Act, authorizing $430 million to combat human trafficking? Why did the party leaders and their MSM comrades suppress public knowledge of legislation named for one of their heroes, aimed at crippling the traffic in women and children?

Perhaps one answer lies in the success President Trump has had in fighting human trafficking compared to his predecessor, Barack Obama, as seen in the chart above. The first 18 months of the Trump presidency saw a 743 percent increase in arrests of traffickers over the first two years of Barack Obama’s first term.

Under Trump’s helm, 9,200 individuals were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in 18 months. Under Obama, 1,238 were arrested for trafficking during his first two years. During eight years in office, Obama’s administration made only 42 more arrests for human trafficking than Trump’s administration made in his first 18 months! How many precious lives were saved by those 9,200 arrests!

President Trump’s commitment to fighting human trafficking is apparent in his “Presidential Proclamation on National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2019.” This also received the media’s anti-Trump treatment. From the president:

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery. It is not enough merely to denounce this horrific assault on human dignity; we must actively work to prevent and end this barbaric exploitation of innocent victims. During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we pledge to continue the battle to abolish modern slavery and restore the lives of those affected by human trafficking.

Human trafficking harms adults and children of all ages and demographics. Through force, fraud, and coercion, traffickers push their victims into demeaning forms of abuse, including domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. These crimes often remain hidden because victims are reluctant to seek help for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, fear of traffickers and law enforcement, and lack of trust. Human trafficking destroys precious lives and threatens our Nation’s security, public health, and the rule of law. It is a scourge on the global community.

We are morally obligated to confront and defeat the abhorrent practice of human trafficking, and I am keeping my pledge to take aggressive action. In February of 2017, I signed an Executive Order to dismantle transnational criminal organizations that traffic and exploit people. I have made it a top priority to fully secure our Nation’s Southwest border, including through the continued construction of a physical wall, so that we can stop human trafficking and stem the flow of deadly drugs and criminals into our country. And my Administration is negotiating tough forced-labor provisions in our new trade agreements, including in the United StatesMexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

In April of 2018, I was proud to sign into law the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017,” landmark legislation to fight online sex trafficking. This legislation makes it easier to take legal action against individuals who use websites to facilitate sex trafficking, helping victims seek justice against the websites that profit from their exploitation. It also clarifies that those who benefit from knowingly assisting, supporting, or facilitating an act of sex trafficking are in violation of Federal law.

At my direction, Federal departments and agencies are ensuring full enforcement of our laws so that those who seek to exploit our people and break our laws receive the full measure of justice they deserve. In 2017 alone, the Department of Justice secured convictions against more than 500 defendants in human trafficking cases and the Federal Bureau of Investigation dismantled more than 42 criminal enterprises engaged in child sex trafficking. The Department of Homeland Security initiated more than 800 human trafficking cases, resulting in at least 1,500 arrests and 530 convictions. The Department of Health and Human Services modernized the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The Department of Transportation recently established an Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking to assist State and local transportation stakeholders in developing best practices for combating human trafficking. And my Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is working tirelessly to prosecute traffickers and protect human trafficking victims. The task force has also enhanced collaboration with other nations, businesses, and survivors of human trafficking.

Under my Administration, the Federal Government will continue to play a leading role in the fight against human trafficking. But all Americans can help in this effort by recognizing key indicators that can potentially save a life. Public awareness and education are critical, especially for those most likely to encounter perpetrators of enslavement and their victims, such as healthcare professionals, law enforcement officers, social services providers, and educators. Through the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign, citizens can learn to identify victims, report suspected instances of trafficking, and bring those who exploit others to justice.

As a Nation, we cherish and uphold the notion that all people are created with inherent dignity and entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Human trafficking and enslavement robs victims of these God-given endowments. Modern slavery in all its manifestations is a blight on humanity and an affront to our fundamental values. We will not rest until we eradicate this evil.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2019 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating in the annual observation of National Freedom Day on February 1, 2019. I call upon industry associations, law enforcement, private businesses, faith-based and other organizations of civil society, schools, families, and all Americans to recognize our vital roles in ending all forms of modern slavery and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities aimed at ending and preventing all forms of human trafficking.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.

DONALD J. TRUMP

Improving border security through the measures proposed by President Trump and vehemently opposed by Democratic leadership would further the goals the president laid out in his Proclamation and in the Frederick Douglass Act, goals that would diminish the suffering of women and children. Is opposing President Trump worth the lives of these women and children?